Three-year-old boy seriously injured after canoe accident

A three-year-old boy had to be taken to a Joplin hospital Monday afternoon after he suffered serious injuries from a canoe accident in McDonald County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the young child was a passenger in a 14-foot winona canoe with 34-year-old Jared Scarbrough and 30-year-old Meghan Scarbrough, both of Miami, Oklahoma. Their canoe tried to negotiate swift water under the “Trestle Bridge” on Elk River near Ginger Blue when it hit the bridge pier.

Both adults were ejected on impact and the young boy became trapped between the canoe and the bridge pier. Witnesses say the child may have been underwater for three minutes before bystanders were able to enter the water and rescue him from the canoe.

Megan suffered minor injuries. Jared was not injured.